Chapter 364
Returning to the inn, I was about to enter my room when I stopped in front of it and raised my hearing.
No voices could be heard from inside the room, only the occasional sound of breathing.
My senior brothers had not yet woken up.
Not wanting to wake them, I turned around and went up to the roof.
From the roof, I could see the entire surrounding area.
As the time was now heading towards night, there were few people walking around the streets, and other shops and restaurants were closing one by one.
I stared blankly down at the people for a long time.
"What are you staring at so intently?"
Just then, a familiar voice came from behind me.
Although I hadn't noticed anyone approaching, I knew very well who the owner of this voice was.
"Alliance Leader. You've come."
"Were you here to make it easy for me to find you?"
"That's one reason, and I also didn't want to wake my senior brothers who are sleeping in our room."
"Heh heh... Sometimes you seem endlessly gentle, and other times you seem to live without knowing what compassion is. The more I see you, the stranger a child you seem to be."
"But I'm a person too, so how can I have only one side? I have this side and that side."
"My. You sound like a little old man."
The Alliance Leader let out a small laugh.
I don't know what change of heart he had, but I think I've seen more of the Alliance Leader's smiles in the past few days than all the smiles I saw in my past life.
"Yes. Seeing you, I know for sure. You treat your people really well, and when you judge someone to be an enemy, you are truly merciless."
"I think I'm like that. Although it takes quite a long time for me to think of someone as my person."
"Hehe... So, has Ha-rin entered the scope of your people?"
"Yes...?!"
At the Alliance Leader's sudden words, I was so surprised that I turned to look at him.
Come to think of it, this is Kaifeng. And it's near the Martial Alliance.
It means that what I do and what Jeong Ha-rin does are all in the palm of the Alliance Leader's hand.
"I didn't ask with any particular intention. I'm just literally asking what you think of Ha-rin."
"I think Miss Jeong... will be able to become a good martial artist in the future."
"Oh. Is that so?"
"Yes. She has considerable martial talent, as if she takes after her grandfather. And since she's even been making an effort lately, she will definitely develop into a good martial artist."
"Hehe... You're not just saying that because you're in front of me, are you?"
"Of course not. I'm serious."
He smiled broadly.
His smile was dripping with both satisfaction and affection.
No matter how much of an iron man he is, his granddaughter must be that pretty to him.
"Actually, I didn't intend to teach Ha-rin martial arts. The reason... I think you know it well."
"The more you learn martial arts, the more dangerous the martial world becomes."
He nodded his head slightly, and then, looking at a distant place, he opened his mouth.
It was the direction where the Martial Alliance was.
"Yes. That was the reason. If I could, I wanted Ha-rin to learn a moderate amount of martial arts, be active around this moderately safe Kaifeng, and live while forming friendships with other martial artists."
This time, he turned his gaze to me.
"But now, it seems that even living moderately has become a difficult thing."
"I'm... sorry."
"Heh. No. I didn't bring this up to say anything to you."
"But, Alliance Leader. If a big event happens in the martial world someday... and this place is no longer a safe place... then wouldn't it be more advantageous for survival to have a slightly stronger martial art than a weak one?"
"Survival?"
He picked out the word 'survival' from the sentence I said and asked back.
Come to think of it, the word 'survival' is not a commonly used word.
"Unhwi. You've been like that since before. What are you so worried about? Do you perhaps know something?"
As expected of the Martial Alliance Leader. He noticed the strangeness in my words and immediately asked about it.
I nodded my head lightly and said, "I can't explain the details. Because I don't know the exact reason either."
After taking a deep breath, I continued, "I don't know if you know, but I am receiving revelations from the Primordial Heaven Supreme. In the future that the Primordial Heaven Supreme has shown me, the martial world was invaded by foreign enemies, burned, and countless people died. You can dismiss it as the crazy dream of a mad Taoist, but..."
"I don't think so. Continue."
"I am very afraid of that situation. I am not afraid of the foreign enemies, but I am afraid of seeing myself, our martial world, being helpless in front of the enemy."
I spoke in a serious voice and tone.
This statement just now is my true feeling.
Sometimes I even have this thought.
In fact, I am the Self-Taught Swordsman Unhwi, but I am not living a second life as Unhwi of the Wudang Sect.
In fact, I am Unhwi of the Wudang Sect, but I wonder if I have just glimpsed the life of the Self-Taught Swordsman Unhwi.
"Afraid... afraid of a powerless martial world..."
Fortunately, the Martial Alliance Leader didn't seem to think my words were completely nonsensical, as he muttered to himself and looked at the empty space.
He thought to himself for a while, and then, looking at me, he opened his mouth.
"I see. I now understand why you are so impatient and what you are afraid of. And the reason why you can do your best like this."
"I am actually... just a coward. A coward who just doesn't want to die and doesn't want the things I'm afraid of to happen."
"Heh. If I tell you a secret... I'm also very scared."
"You, Alliance Leader?"
"Yes. When I was young, I was the biggest coward in the neighborhood. Even if the older brothers I was close with took me to the mountains and let go of my hand to tease me, I was a child who would burst into tears because I was scared of the situation."
He, as if recalling the old days, chuckled and continued, "But do you know how I was able to rise to the position of the Martial Alliance Leader?"
"I don't know."
"It's because of that fear. I, who was so scared, was obsessed with martial arts because I didn't want to experience scary things. Because I thought that if my martial arts became stronger, the things that could scare me would gradually disappear."
I looked at him with slightly surprised eyes.
I wasn't surprised that the Martial Alliance Leader had such a past. Because everyone can have a past or a turning point.
Rather, the fact that he was telling me such a story was surprising.
Because the Martial Alliance Leader I knew in my past life was a person who would never tell his own story.
"Fortunately, I seem to have had martial talent. As much as I tried, my martial arts showed achievement. Then I entered the Martial Alliance, and as I grew by defeating the enemies who could make me more afraid in the future, one by one... I had become the Martial Alliance Leader at some point."
Although he said he had become the Martial Alliance Leader by chance, his achievements in the Martial Alliance were legendary.
He won every battle he went to, and he annihilated every enemy he fought.
Come to think of it, because he had such achievements, he must have been able to rise to the position of the Martial Alliance Leader.
"So I think your worries about the future... are also quite plausible."
"Thank you... for believing me."
"There's no need to thank me."
He chuckled and continued, "So, I've thought of various methods, and I've come to the conclusion that it's best to invest in the most certain future."
"What is the certain future?"
"It's to support a martial artist who is growing for sure and who can become the center of the martial world in the future."
"That's a good idea. If there is a strong martial artist with a righteous heart, he is sufficient to be a focal point."
"You think so too?"
"Yes."
"Then you be that focal point."
"Yes...?"
To me, who was dumbfounded, the Alliance Leader, with a serious face, said to me, "No matter how much I think about it, among the martial artists I have met in the past few decades, the martial artist whose future I am most looking forward to is you. Your aptitude for martial arts, your obsession with strength, and even your character... the ideal martial artist I was thinking of is you."
"I don't know about the others... but I don't think my character is that great..."
"Haha! Then you're admitting the others?"
"Yes. That's... well..."
"Hehe... Your character is also exactly the character I was hoping for. I never want a martial artist who is too kind and just. Rather, I want a martial artist who is a little shrewd, can even be felt to be cunning, and can boldly overcome rules and laws for practical benefits."
After hearing it, I didn't feel very good, but I knew for sure that he was talking about me.
While I was hesitating whether to complain or not, the Alliance Leader looked me straight in the eye and said very slowly and sincerely, "You've memorized all the incantations of my martial art written on the wall in the secret vault, right?"
"Yes. I've... memorized them."
I stuttered as if I were confessing to a theft.
Fortunately, the Alliance Leader didn't seem to mind at all.
"The name of that martial art is the Thunder Stopping Divine Art. My lifelong study is contained in it."
"Ah...! So that was the name."
Although I had memorized the incantations, I didn't know the name of the martial art, so I answered as if I had just found out.
The Alliance Leader's martial art is a martial art that creates lightning by using the qi of extreme yang.
It means that it is a martial art that is very suitable for me, who already knows the qi of extreme yang, the Six Yang Divine Art.
"So I want to pass on my martial art and experience to you."
"Yes...?"
The Alliance Leader's expression was calm. His expression somehow made me feel like I was a person who was making a fuss over nothing, but what the Alliance Leader had said was actually a huge thing.
"Alliance Leader. I am truly grateful for your words, and I know it is an opportunity that is too good for me... but I can't. You can't serve two masters, can you?"
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not asking you to be my disciple. If I take you as a disciple, what will I hear from Hyeon-yang later?"
"Then what did you mean?"
"It's not just a master who can pass on martial arts and experience. Did you give advice on martial arts and share your experience with Ha-rin thinking of her as a disciple?"
"Ah, no."
"Right? It's the same for me. Just... how about thinking of it as a martial arts senior passing on a little of what I know to a junior?"
He, with very benevolent eyes, smiled broadly and said to me.
Today... I have gained a close senior in the martial world.
And a great senior whose age difference I don't even know exactly.
(End of Chapter)